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earns @PATENT orare- JOHN F. LANE, DECEASED, LATE OF THE STATE OF INDIANA, BY E. M. HUNTINGTON, ADMINISTRATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,634, dated June 17, 1840.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that JOHN FooTE LANE, late a colonel in the Army of the United States, of the State of Indiana, now deceased, did during his lifetime invent a new and useful `Pontoon Equipage or Apparatus, which equipage -or apparatus is intended principally for the purpose of constructing pontoon-bridges for the use of armies and which is also serviceable in the formation of floating batteries and rafts and for other purposes in military operations; and I, ELIsHA MILLS HUNTINGTON, administrator of the estate of the late decedent, do hereby declare that the following is a full and eXact description of the said pontoon equipage or apparatus.

Instead of the boats ordinarily employed in the construction of pontoon bridges, pontoons, or floats, are made of stout sail duck, or other suitable material, which is rendered impervious to air and moisture by being coated, or saturated, with india-rubber, or in any other adequate manner. The material used is to be made into pontoons, or floats, of such sizes as may be considered necessary to adapt them to the particular purpose to which they are to be applied. That which has been most used is in the form of a cylinder of about eighteen feet in length and two feet in diameter, when inflated, or filled with air.

Although these pontoons, or floats, may be made, or constructed, in different modes, that which has been found most eligible, as uniting strength with convenience, is the following: They have been made of three thicknesses of stuff; the interior, or lining, and also the second laye-r of material, has been of Russia sheeting of the best quality; and No. 1, Russian twine duck, (hemp) or some other equally good fabric, has been used for the outer layer. Each of thes-e layers has been coated with the prepared india-rubber, applied thereto by the proper machinery, in such a way as completely to saturate it. In forming the pontoon, the inner, or lining, thickness of duck is put together with the side on which the india rubber is applied, outward; the stuffl should be so cut as that the ends shall be hemispherical. The joinings are secured by means of strips of the same material coated with india-rubber on both sides; these strips should be about live inches wide. At one end or at both ends of this a flexible air tube, or piping, is to be inserted, through which the pontoon is to be inflated. The ends of these tubes are furnished with metallic terminations, having suitable caps, or valves, for the proper management of the inflating process. The second layer of material is now to be applied on the first, and this is prepared by being coated perfectly on both sides with india rubber. In applying this, care is taken to break joints, and to connect it with and along the air, or inflating, tube, leading into the interior. The third, or outer, layer of material is then put on; this is covered with india-rubber on that side only which is in Contact with `the second layer, but this material is so applied to it as'to be driven well through its fibers; this, also, is attach-ed to, and covers, the air tube.

For the purpose of making the requisite attachments to the pontoons, they are to be embraced both' longitudinally and transversely by strong bands of the same, or other suitable, material; which bands, at the ends and sides of the pontoons are to be formed into loops, in the manner hereinafter shown. These bands have been made siX inches wide, and, like the pontoons, of three thicknesses of stuff. There may be two bands made to run longitudinally, and these are formed into loops at each end of the pontoon, as at A, A, in the accompanying drawing; and five such bands have been made to surround them, as shown at o, a, a, o1. The loops left at A, A, and o, a, on each side of the pontoons may measure about a foot. These loops should be stitched with strong twine, or thread, close to the pontoons, so as to render them secure against the strain to which they will be subjected. All this having been properly done, the pontoons are ready for inflation at any time, which may be eected by the common smiths bellows, or by a suitable force, or condensing, pump.

To form a bridge over a stream with these pontoons, having provided the requisite string pieces, and plank, first inflate a sufficient number of the pontoons, then place one of them in the water, parallel with the bank of the stream, and lay three string pieces, as shown at B, B, B, in the drawing, so that their outer ends reach the center of the pontoon; then shove the pontoon into the stream the length of the string pieces, which may bev fourteen feet, more or less,

,place another pontoon under the string pieces next the shore, lay plankupon this section of the bridge, add the next set of stringV pieces, asfBQB, B, connecting the string pieces of the respective 'sections bymeans` of iron clasps, or by dovetalls, or otherwise,` as shown at c, c, c, 1n the drawing." There the strength of the stream requires itguy ropes d, d, d, must be, attached to the/ends of the'pontoons, andV to the riverbank, as shown in the drawings,lso` as tovkeep' the pontoons in their vproper places.` In this i manner proceed until the bridge reaches .the

opposite bank of the river.l v

Any number of such pontoons may be connected together, when requisite, so'as to Vconstitute a floating battery, a float, or raft, for the transportation of arms, baggage, or`

troops, instead of a bridge.V This may be efected by fplacing them side by side, and

passing poles through the loops a, a, a, a, and then covering the whole -with plank, or

not, according to the nature oiV the service 4 united by poles e, e.

desired. InFig. 2, they are shown as thus OtherV forms than that of the i cylinder may, it is manifest, be Vgiven to the respec-` tive pontoons. They have sometimes, for

example, been made inthe form of nn ordinary pillow, and two, three, or more, of

them have been connected together so as l ,that their greatest widths were in a vertical direction, and thus conned .together by loops, and poles or otherwise.V Their ends, in this case, havebeen formed like the bow ofa boat, or canoe, so that when made to constitute a float, or raft, their i passage through the water has beenslnooth and easy. It will be evident that such pontoons Amay be so constructedTas Vto assumethe form of a boat, or any other ligure that may be found necessary, orconvenient, and'theymay be made of one, two, three or more cylinders attached. y

f Where there is danger from the attack' of an enemy, great security will result from the combining of two, three, or more, of'such pontoons tosupport the endsof the string pieces of a pontoon bridge, as the per1'`ora'` tion' of one, or two, by balls, or otherwise, may", still leave the structure sufficiently secure. A

`Having thus fully" described the! nature and obj ectof the invention made bythe late Colonel JoHNFooTE LANE, and shown the manner in which-"the sameis to be used,

what is claimed as new therein, is` `The constructing of pontoon bridges, by combining togetherthepontoons, `such as are herein described, and the lnecessary string pieces and planking, as set forth; and

also the combining together ofv Vsuch pontoons as herein described, soas to form i'ioatingvbatteries, or lfloats, or rafts, for the conveyance of arms, orj troops, orfor other purposes appertaining toV military,y operations. i i M. HUNTINGTON, Administrator of the` estate of J 01M F. Lame, deceased. 7

3 `Witnesses:

THos. P. JoNEs, Y

G. M. DEXTER. 

